Wild Jesus, Honest Thomas
Ruth Kennedy 
April 02, 2024
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John 20: 24-29 (NRSVA)
24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’
26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ 27 Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ 28 Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ 29 Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’
Thomas gets a hard time in my opinion. Doubting Thomas, as he is often referred to, doesn’t rely on the word of the other disciples about Jesus being alive. Just like the other disciples didn’t believe the word of Mary and the other women about Jesus being alive. Yet we don’t call them the doubting disciples. John is still the beloved disciple even though he didn’t believe Jesus was resurrected until he saw the empty tomb for himself. It was after Peter went into the empty tomb and John followed into see the linen cloths lying empty that he saw, was convinced and believed. All through the resurrection encounters the people need to see the physical evidence to believe: Jesus himself, empty tomb, and linens. And Jesus offers Thomas just what he said he needed to in order to believe.
Isn’t that interesting?
Jesus met Thomas at the place of faith Thomas could manage, knowing their encounter would grow Thomas into more faith beyond his current thinking.
When we are uncertain about Jesus do we let it hold us back from going to Him?
What if we were to get wild with our beliefs about Jesus and expect Him to meet us in a way we can believe?! That will be different for all of us. Our doubts are not an end to meeting with Jesus – he is big enough to handle them!
Our questions about faith are a starting point for Jesus to meet with us, just like Thomas. Often we think this is just at the beginning point as we follow Jesus. But Thomas and the others had been with Jesus, every day for around three years, that’s 1095 days! That’s a lot of teaching and time with Jesus, face to face with the Son of God! This principle of letting our questions open the door to an encounter with Jesus, the one whom we are wondering about, is relevant however long and deep our walk with God is.
The thing is, Jesus is not hemmed in by our questions, our doubts can hem in our thinking about Jesus, who is wildly beyond our imaginations, thoughts and dreams. Taking doubts and questions, hesitations in faith to Jesus acts like pressing the reset button in our faith because we are saying to Jesus that we don’t understand, but we are going to believe in order to understand. We trust Jesus to be who He says He is and He will teach us, guide and reveal mysteries to us through His Holy Spirit which enables us to grow in faith and understanding.
How interesting, trusting Jesus in order to understand more rather than trying to understand more in order to believe. What a wild, untamed way of living.
Prayer:
Jesus,
We dare to believe in the things we cannot see:
In your love for us
In your love for those around us
In the hope of eternity.
We dare to believe in heaven on earth
In the light breaking through
In justice made new
In your love for us.
You take us and meet us where we are able and encourage us to have honest and open conversations with you. You already know what bothers us, where we need reassurance, our wrestlings don’t put you off us. Instead, you draw us closer to you, holding us in your love and power, give us faith to understand. Help us put away the mindset that we understand in order to believe.
Rewild us to honesty before you.
Amen.
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